Android owns over 50% of Southeast Asia

The Android OS has been growing in popularity at the spectacular speed over the past couple of years. But nowhere, it would seem, has the rate of growth been more spectacular than in Southeast Asia, where 49% of smartphone owners are using Android phones, up from 15% at the same time last year.

The news is even more impressive considering the rapid growth of overall smartphone use in the region, with two-thirds of mobile phone users now being equipped with smartphones; market penetration is deepest in Malaysia and Singapore, where 88% of people are hooked up with the brainy blowers.

The success of Android-operated smartphones in the region can be credited to their wide variety of handsets, which span the whole spectrum of price and quality. According to Gfk, who published the statistics, it’s the low- to mid-range handsets that are propelling the market. Their spokesperson Gerard Tan said:

“The relatively stable prices of smartphones averaging around $309 in the region will continue to drive the industry’s strong growth momentum… In Southeast Asia where smartphone penetration is still nowhere near saturation levels, we can be sure that the current sales spurt will carry on for at least the next few years.”

The dominance of Android in this region comes in the wake of last week’s news that Samsung had become the best-selling handset manufacturer in the world. With Samsung relying on Android for many of the smartphones, this marks a week a good news for Google’s flagship OS.